Ilitches unveil 'bold vision' for arena district

Jul. 21, 2014
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Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, unveils more details of plans for an entertainment and residential complex centered on a new Detroit Red Wings arena. / Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press

by John Gallagher, USA TODAY Sports

by John Gallagher, USA TODAY Sports

DETROIT - Detroit's new arena and entertainment district planned by the Ilitch family for the northern edge of downtown promises to be the city's boldest and most significant development since the Renaissance Center of the 1970s - creating as many as 2,000 new residential units, dozens of shops, walkable European-style streets and perhaps the nation's most innovative multipurpose arena.

Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of his family's Ilitch Holdings, provided the Detroit Free Press the first public renderings and details of the new Red Wings hockey arena and surrounding entertainment and residential district. In a lengthy interview late last week, Ilitch discussed his hopes and plans for the new and sprawling development, which he called "a very exciting and bold vision."

"Our vision is to build out a sports and entertainment district that is world-class and rivals anything in the country, perhaps the world," he said. "We're not just building a hockey arena. It's really about the district."

The large-scale development, overseen by the Ilitches' Olympia Development, will be integrated with the planned M-1 Rail line, Comerica Park, Ford Field, the Fox Theatre, Motor City Casino Hotel, the Detroit Opera House and other attractions. The arena and various buildings and residential projects will be built on what are now mostly vacant lots encompassing dozens of blocks along and near Woodward Avenue.

Unlike other similar projects, the still-unnamed arena and a big portion of the entertainment district will be built at the same time, rising up together.

The family owns much of the land already and has been buying up lots around the long-economically challenged Cass Corridor and lining up a financing plan to bring the $650 million vision to reality. The new district will stretch from Grand River on the west to Ford Field and Brush Park on the east, and roughly 10 blocks from Grand Circus Park to Charlotte on the north.

In addition to a more-than-20,000-seat arena, plans call for new residential buildings and dozens of restaurants and retail, as well as a hotel, new parks and streetlights, and other remade infrastructure. Ilitch said the area will offer an intimate, festive air that he compared to European cities known for their street life.

New retail connected to the arena structure will be open even when the arena is not in use, featuring a first-ever design for a glass-covered streetscape inside the complex with trees and other urban amenities. The below-ground-level playing surface and sleek building design are meant to give the arena a human scale unlike more imposing and monolithic arenas in many cities.

The massive project provides a capstone to a redevelopment effort ongoing in the area since 1988, when the Ilitches moved their Little Caesars headquarters to the Fox Theatre complex and rehabbed the historic site, now one of Detroit's main venues for movies, shows and special events. The family bought the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and later built Comerica Park across the street, adding another layer of activity to the area.

The new district's development could help represent to the outside world that Detroit - remaking its government and neighborhoods in a very public bankruptcy - is undergoing a rejuvenation with real staying power. The new construction plays off the reshaping of downtown by Quicken Loans founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert - plus the city's massive blight-removal effort and new investment in city service delivery.

Mike Ilitch, the family patriarch who turned 85 on Sunday and cofounded with wife Marian the family's pizza, sports and entertainment empire, said in a statement: "It's always been my dream to see a vibrant and energized downtown Detroit. I want people to look at Detroit's new sports and entertainment district and see what I see - the potential for something very special. I couldn't be more excited and proud to bring this vision to life."

Arena plans announced earlier called for development to grow up around the arena over ensuing years. But the Ilitches decided to do it all at once: A large part of the infrastructure and construction associated with the retail and residential projects will rise out of the ground along with the arena - and be ready by 2017.

Christopher Ilitch said construction of the residential units, restaurants and other new development around the arena was moved up because of its importance to Detroit. He estimated the development would create at least $1.8 billion in total economic impact over several years, 8,300 construction and construction-related jobs, and 1,100 permanent jobs.

"This will have a transformational effect as well as the catalytic effect on additional investment," he said.

The Ilitches plan to build the first few hundred residential units, some in front of Comerica Park along Woodward Avenue, and others in a building lining the south frontage of the new arena. They expect other private developers to invest in the district and build hundreds, perhaps thousands, more residential units over time.

The plans also call for five new distinct neighborhoods, offering housing to attract professionals and others to new apartments and various residential options, including micro-studios that are each just a few hundred square feet. Some parts of the new neighborhoods will be built by the Ilitches and others by private developers.

Among the new details

-Sidewalks and streetlights: Saying "you can't build a world-class district on top of broken-down infrastructure," Ilitch said his family plans to spend millions of dollars to replace aging and often broken public infrastructure in the district with new street paving, sidewalks, streetlights and other infrastructure, working with the city and utility companies to make that happen.

-Bridging I-75: Conceptual plans call for building new structures to span I-75, even on the Woodward Avenue Bridge, so that the below-ground freeway is no longer such a barrier separating downtown and Midtown.

-Trend-setting arena design: The arena itself, still unnamed, will be built in a "deconstructed" fashion with the souvenir shops, team offices, restaurants, ticket offices and similar spaces being built outside the arena but linked by a glass-topped interior street that will serve as a year-round venue for events (see sidebar).

-Home-grown labor: The Ilitches plan has committed to a goal of buying 80% of construction materials from Michigan suppliers when possible. This is in addition to their previously announced goals of hiring 51% of all construction workers from among Detroit residents and getting 30% of all subcontractors from among Detroit-based firms.

-New neighborhoods: Ilitch outlined a plan to create five distinct "neighborhoods" in the district, each with its own special character. Those neighborhoods will be walkable, intimate and, in some cases, modeled after European streets.

-Internships: To help the broader community, the Ilitches have committed to starting an internship program for Cass Tech High School students to work in the family's business network, and to lend its development expertise to groups working elsewhere in Detroit's neighborhoods.